Pinecastle Records is getting a real buzz from the early success of “Ripe,” the forthcoming CD from The Dixie Bee-Liners.The CD’s already-released first single, “Down On The Crooked Road,” entered the No. 3 spot this month on the bluegrass Roots Music Report.

“Every once in a great while a new release comes across our desk that introduces a band that we know is going to be the next big thing in bluegrass music,” wrote Robert Bartosh with the Roots Music Report. “The Dixie Bee-Liners are one of those bands…pure to the bluegrass tradition and the vocal performances are beyond words. They are profoundly talented and the sound is their own. The bluegrass music scene should brace for this new album.”

In anticipation of the CD’s April 15 release, Pinecastle this week launched a CD give-away promotion, with entries ending on April 15. The label will give away to 10 copies of “Ripe.”

Fans can visit www.pinecastle.com/contest_details.asp to enter.

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Tim HensleyTim Hensley - “Long Monday” (Rural Rhythm / Blue Chair)

Tim Hensley is no stranger to the music business. He’s spent time backing some of the biggest names in Bluegrass and Country music including stints with Ricky Skaggs and Patty Loveless. His current “day” job has put him on stage in front of millions of people in the last six years, playing rhythm guitar and singing tenor in country superstar Kenny Chesney’s road band.

“Long Monday” marks Hensley’s debut CD as a solo artist. With the aid and support of his current boss, Chesney, who co-produced the project along with ace Nashville Producer Buddy Cannon and a slough of top flight musicians and vocalists, Hensley finally gets his chance to stand in the spotlight and make a record of the music he loves and has been singing backstage for years.

Listening to “Long Monday”, one thing that’s immediately obvious. This project is a true labor of love for Hensley.

Hensley’s vocals breathe life into each song on the CD… or maybe… each song breathes life into Hensley. Either way you want to look at it, Hensley delivers this batch of songs like he’s lived, loved, laughed, longed and lost with every word.

Among the highlights on the project is the title cut, “Long Monday,” a song penned by John Prine and Keith Sykes. On top of Hensley’s spot-on vocal, Jeff Taylor’s accordion adds a nice dimension to this sparsely arranged song of love and longing. “Dear Departed,” written by John Scott Sherrill, Shawn Camp and Sonny Tillis is another real stand out on the record. A haunting tale full of heart-ache finds Rob Ickes’ Dobro heaping on the lonesome and longing.

The CD’s first single, “Ridin’ Out the Storm,” written by Rodney Crowell, has been receiving a warm reception on radio, ranking at # 3 on Prime Cuts of Bluegrass’ “National Bluegrass Music Programmers Top 5″.

“Long Monday’s” supporting cast includes the aforementioned Jeff Taylor and Rob Ickes on accordion and dobro respectively. The project also includes: Kevin Grantt on bass, Tim Stafford on guitar, Wyatt Rice on guitar, Adam Steffey on mandolin, Deanie Richardson and Aubrey haynie on fiddle and David Talbot on banjo. Patty Loveless, Wyatt Beard, Melonie Cannon, Tim Stafford, Sonya Isaacs, Vince Gill, Ronnie Bowman, Garnet Imes Bowman and Buddy Cannon all contribute backing vocals.

The production on the project has a west coast influence to my ear. It’s not a raw and in-your-face sounding record by any stretch. But, it’s not overly refined either. Smooth and organic sums it up best.

“Long Monday” is reminiscent of a lot of great records that were cut in the 70’s that were sort of out in left field for bluegrass and country music at that time. My Dad used to (and still does) bring these kinds of records home all the time. These were the kind of records that weren’t concerned with trends and marketing or the lick-of-the-month club mentality that dominates popular country radio these days. Often, they usually obtained at best a cult following but were true musical and artistic statements. Tim Hensley’s “Long Monday” is cut from the same mold.

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By Kevin Cook

ST. LOUIS, Mo. - “Fiddler’s Ghost,” the latest novel by Mitch Jayne, the noted Ozark writer and humorist, has been named one of the “Best Books of 2007″ by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Jayne is perhaps best known as a member of the Dillards, the influential bluegrass group that appeared on “The Andy Griffith Show” as the Darlings, a family of musical hillbillies.

Mitch Jayne (The Dillards)“Fiddler’s Ghost” a novel by Mitch Jayne

“Fiddler’s Ghost” was published in July 2007 by Wildstone Media of St. Louis. Brimming with suspense, whimsical characters and Jayne’s masterful command of the Ozarks’ picturesque and earthy speech, the novel is receiving widespread critical notice. In its citation the Post-Dispatch praises Jayne’s “…intimate knowledge of Ozark lore and language to craft a witty, beguiling winter’s tale.” Michael Patrick, historian/folklorist at the University of Missouri, calls the novel “…the rarest of books. I could hardly put it down…full of suspense and plot turns. Only Mitch Jayne could write a novel with a perfect understanding of the music and dialect of the Missouri Ozarks.”

The title character of “Fiddler’s Ghost” is the genteel spirit of Benjamin Springfield, a Confederate soldier and fiddler from Tennessee, who died before his time and has wandered the earth in a ghostly time warp for nearly a hundred years. In 1951, a young Missouri Ozarks couple befriends the ghost and discovers his violin hidden in a mysterious antique bed. The plot concerns the couple’s efforts to hide the true identity of their “Uncle Hiram” from the superstitious townsfolk of Indian Glade and the ghost’s realization that music is the key to his finding eternal peace.

As a founding member of the Dillards, one of the most innovative groups in bluegrass, Jayne played bass and regaled audiences with humorous stories of his beloved Ozarks. He penned the lyrics for numerous bluegrass standards, including “The Old Home Place,” “Dooley” and “There Is A Time.” The Dillards appeared in six episodes of “The Andy Griffith Show” as the perennially tongue-tied Darling Boys.

Jayne is the author of the acclaimed novels “The Forest in the Wind” (1966) and the Ozarks-set “Old Fish Hawk” (1969). In 2000, Wildstone Media released Jayne’s “Home Grown Stories and Home Fried Lies,” an autobiographical collection of Ozark humor.

Jayne and his wife, Diana, an accomplished artist who painted the evocative cover image for “Fiddler’s Ghost,” live in Eminence, Mo. Jayne’s humor column, “Driftwood,” appears weekly in The Shannon County Current Wave and is syndicated in several other Ozark newspapers. He has written for such magazines as “Today’s Farmer” and “The Missouri Conservationist” and is in demand as a lecturer on Ozark folkways.

“Fiddler’s Ghost” is available directly from Wildstone Media - www.wildstonemedia.com - and on Amazon - www.amazon.com

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Dailey & Vincent - “Dailey & Vincent” (Rounder)

Read our review of the new Dailey & Vincent CD here.

Tim Hensley - “Long Monday” (Rural Rhythm Records / Blue Chair Records)

Various Artists - “Best of Pickin’ on Rascal Flatts: The Ultimate Bluegrass Tribute” (Cmh Records)

Various Artists - “Sound Traditions: That Good Ol’ Bluegrass” (Rural Rhythm Records)

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In honor of Ralph Stanley’s 72nd birthday on Feb. 25th, Murphy Method is having a sale on their Ralph Stanley Style DVD. The sale price is only $20.00 plus shipping and the sale price is good from now through February. The DVD teaches the popular “Clinch Mountain Backstep,” the huge hit, “Man of Constant Sorrow” and more.

Casey Henry has been added to the staff at Banjo Camp North, which takes place May 16-18, 2008 near Groton, Mass. Casey, along with Bill Evans, Alan Munde, Janet Davis, Bill Keith, and others will teach classes for all levels and lead jams in the evenings. There is a pre-camp show on Thursday, May 15 in Lexington, Mass.

And finally a clip from Chris Henry’s January 16th, 2008 Station Inn show earlier this month: a triple-mandolin version of “Farewell to Long Hollow.” featuring Chris, Red Henry, and Brian Frazier. The tune appears on Chris’s CD “Monroe Approved.”

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